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Mermaid Tales: Past, Present & Future
Cassandra L. Newby-Alexander, Ph.D.
Professor of History and Dean, College of Liberal Arts
Norfolk State University
Mermaid Tales: Past, Present & Future
The Powhatan Chiefdom in 1607
English depiction of paramount chief Powhatan (Wahunsenacawh)in a longhouse at Werowocomoco
John Smith's Map of 1612
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Mermaid Tales: Past, Present & Future
After Wahunsenacawh's death, his younger brother, Opechancanough began a war with the English who were unrelenting in encroaching on Indian lands. The Anglo-Powhatan War began in 1622 in an effort to force the English from Powhatan territories. This effort was met with strong reprisals from the English, ultimately resulting in the near destruction of the tribe. The twenty-year war ended with the capture and killing of Opechancanough. The subsequent treaty that was negotiated with the Powhatans (Treaty of 1646) marked the effective dissolution of the united confederacy.
The town of Skicoak was located on the Elizabeth River. This 1590 White-De Bry map shows the town near one of the tributaries of the Chesapeake (not far from the upper Chowan),
which river they call Occam.
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Original site of Norfolk, 1680.
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Original site of Norfolk overlaying present-day downtown.
Mermaid Tales: Past, Present & Future
Diverse population in Norfolk developed
and lines of free and enslaved became
diffused.
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Mermaid Tales: Past, Present & Future
Mermaid Tales: Past, Present & Future
This scene taken from a 1775 map, which captured the activities of enslaved black workers and white merchants on the waterfront. African Americans were so critical to the shipping industry as stevedores, common laborers, caulkers, shipwrights, pilots, and crewmen that it was doubtful the commerce would have developed as fully without their presence.
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Mermaid Tales: Past, Present & Future
Growth of Norfolk as a
seaport.
Mermaid Tales: Past, Present & Future
Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation and creation of Ethiopian Regiment
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Mermaid Tales: Past, Present & Future
Rebuilding of Norfolk after American
Revolution.
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Mermaid Tales: Past, Present & Future
William Still, a runaway slave, became a noted station master on the Underground Railroad in Philadelphia.
Still recorded over 763 freedom seekers from the South. Of that number, 285 came from Virginia; 350 came from Maryland, 42 from Delaware, and the rest from others states including NC, GA, SC, MS, LA, KY, and Washington, DC.
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Mermaid Tales: Past, Present & Future
Captain Alfred Fountain’s schooner was boarded by the Norfolk Mayor and a search team to find fugitives hidden aboard the ship. Twenty-two escaped successful in 1855.
Numerous laws were passed in Virginia beginning in 1800, establishing night watchmen who would stop any African Americans traveling at night. By the 1850s, the law would mandate the search of all vessels leaving Virginia’s ports.
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Mermaid Tales: Past, Present & Future
St. Mary’s Basilica and its possible connection to Norfolk’s Underground Railroad
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